Opportunity makes us known to others, but more to ourselves.

People are often vain of their passions, even of the worst, but envy is a passion so timid and shame-faced that no one ever dare avow her.

Avarice is more opposite to economy than liberality.

When we seek reconciliation with our enemies, it is commonly out of a desire to better our own condition, a being harassed and tired out with a state of war, and a fear of some ill accident which we are willing to prevent.

Nothing hinders a thing from being natural so much as the straining ourselves to make it seem so.

We sometimes imagine we hate flattery, but we only hate the way we are flattered.

Confidence always pleases those who receive it. It is a tribute we pay to their merit, a deposit we commit to their trust, a pledge that gives them a claim upon us, a kind of dependence to which we voluntarily submit.